Don’t be stupid …

You cannot have that fullness of life Jesus promised to those who follow Him if you return to your sin and try to carry it along the Way with you.

Sin and following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ go together like oil and water, they just don’t mix. Sin will weigh you down and defeat you if you attempt to make room for it in your life.

It’s very much like how the army of Alexander the Great once found themselves weighted down by their plunder at the time they were advancing on Persia. At one critical point, it appeared his troops might be defeated. The soldiers had taken so much plunder from their previous campaigns that they had become weighted down and were losing their effectiveness in combat. Alexander immediately commanded that all the spoils be thrown into a heap and burned.

The men complained bitterly but soon came to see the wisdom of the order. Someone wrote, “It was as if wings had been given to them — they walked lightly again.” Victory was assured.

Similarly, Jesus orders those who would follow Him to lighten their lives from their selfish sinfulness …

“Then he said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me,'” Luke 9:23.

We’re still all too tempted to listen to the lying voice of Satan who whispers that if we insist on following Jesus, we can take along a little sin with us. How in the world do we continue to believe such whisperings? Bill Crowder wrote about the power of sin to ruin lives. Here’s an excerpt that helps us gain insight as to how we can fall for thinking a little sin would never hurt anyone …

I was having lunch with a pastor-friend when the discussion sadly turned to a mutual friend in ministry who had failed morally. As we grieved together over this fallen comrade, now out of ministry, I wondered aloud, “I know anyone can be tempted and anyone can stumble, but he’s a smart guy. How could he think he could get away with it?” Without blinking, my friend responded, “Sin makes us stupid.” It was an abrupt statement intended to get my attention, and it worked.

I have often thought of that statement in the ensuing years, and I continue to affirm the wisdom of those words. How else can you explain the actions of King David, the man after God’s own heart turned adulterer and murderer? Or the reckless choices of Samson? Or the public denials of Christ by Peter, the most public of Jesus’ disciples? We are flawed people who are vulnerable to temptation and to the foolishness of mind that can rationalize and justify almost any course of action if we try hard enough.

If we are to have a measure of victory over the power of sin, it will come only as we lean on the strength and wisdom of Christ (Rom. 7:24-25). As His grace strengthens our hearts and minds, we can overcome our own worst inclination to make foolish choices.

Sin weighs us down, makes us stupid, and will ruin our lives if we attempt to hold on to any portion of it. That’s why the writer of Hebrews gives us a bold charge:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith …” Hebrews 12:1-2a.

Have you stripped away anything that ways you down from following Christ? Have you confessed and repented of all sin? Are you heeding the wisdom to not be stupid by thinking you can mix a little sin with a life of faith?

Scotty